Pundit ClaimsAI claims by Gary Marcus and Ed Zitron, with the evidence

Ed Zitron Where's Your Ed At Published

The Internet Is Already Broken

We recorded 3 claims from this post. 3 were checked against evidence. 1 more is held. Read the post at its source.

Claims from this post (3)

In the order they appear in the post. Each quotation is the speaker’s words in this post. A label such as “Supported” or “Can’t be checked” is the claim’s current assessment; its page has the evidence and the reasons.

  1. Assessment: UnresolvedSaid

    “People are concerned that AI is going to turn the internet into a porridge of low-quality service journalism and/or ecommerce marketing, and I’m not worried because that’s what the internet already is.”

    What we tested: Zitron says he personally is not worried by fears that AI will turn the internet into a porridge of low-quality service journalism and/or ecommerce marketing, because that is what the internet already is.

  2. Assessment: SupportedSaid

    “AI might help profligate this kind of content, but you are completely delusional if you can’t see that the modern content mill of the internet is already full of crap specifically built to convince Google to give it more traffic.”

    What we tested: AI might help spread this kind of low-quality content, but the internet's modern content mill is already full of crap specifically built to convince Google to give it more traffic.

    What happened: The investigation describes padded commercial copy, interviews a producer about writing for Google, and identifies mass SEO-oriented publishing at media outlets. This supports an established production practice; reputable reporting is used because no comprehensive contemporaneous primary measurement was found. (The Verge, )

  3. Assessment: SupportedSaid

    “While AI will undoubtedly help us become more monetized and more interrupted by billion and trillion-dollar enterprises, it’s arguable that we haven’t already entered a digital society where the corporations are completely in control.”

    What we tested: AI will help large corporations monetize and interrupt internet users more.

    What happened: The section confirms that ads directly within AI Overviews were available to US mobile users after testing, adding a placement inside the generated answer. That establishes AI-mediated commercialization and an additional commercial intrusion under the stated reading. (Google, )

Held from this post (1)

These records did not pass every check, so nothing about them is published. Held is not a finding.